Primary voting mechanism



May 3, 1938. A. N. GusTAvsoN PRIMARY VOTING MECHANISM Filed July 7, 1936 Patented May 3, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,115,849 PRIMARY VOTING MECHANISM Alvin N. Gustavson,

Jamestown, N. Y., assignor Application July 7, 1936, Serial No. 89,341

3 Claims.

This invention relates to an improvement in voting machines and more particularly to the provision of a party lever therefore.

All voting machines are necessarily provided with some means for voting a straight party ticket. In the majority of machines a party 1ever, located adjacent one end of a party row of vote indicators, is provided for this purpose. This lever is adapted to increase the speed of party voting by actuating all indicators in a party row and eliminating the necessity of individual manipulation of each candidate indicator. Due to the fact that a great number of voters fail to understand the simple use of voting machines and attempt to cast votes in a manner contrary to specific instructions, voting machines today, although provided with many safety devices for the prevention of erroneous voting, are constantly subjected to misuse and structural abuse. Misuse lgenerally occurs when a voter attempts to force a locked candidate indicator or party lever into voting position after having improperly manipulated other indicators or another party lever. 26 The present invention is directed to the provision of means by which to prevent damage to the mechanism of a voting machine through improper use of a party lever, In order to actuate all candidate indicators in a party row through the use of a party lever, said lever must be considerably larger, stronger, and have greater leverage than any of the candidate indicators. Consequently, when a voter attempts to improperly manipulate a party lever, due to the size thereof, sufficient leverage is provided by which he may damage or break that part of the mechanism of the voting machine which is locked against voting. This occurs either by prior set up of the machine or erroneous manipulation of individual indicators thereon. vent this, applicant provides a party lever which may be manipulated under any and all circumstances and yet will only actuate a party row of indicators when said indicators are released and 5 the party vote is being properly cast.

One of the objects of the invention lies in the provision of a party lever which will simultaneously actuate candidate indicators in a party row for the purpose of enabling a voter to quick- -ly and easily cast a straight party ballot.

Another object of the invention lies in the provision of a party lever which may be actuated by a voter without actuating the party row indicators, when any indicators in another party 55 row have previously been actuated.

To pre- Another object of the invention lies in the provision of means for connecting a party lever with a party bar, the means being yieldable and serving to absorb movement of the party lever instead of transmitting this movement to the 5 party indicators when said indicators are locked by erroneous balloting on the part ci a voter.

Other and further objects of the invention will be more fully understood from a consideration of the following specication taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing and in which Fig. 1 is a fragmentary front elevation of a voting machine showing a party lever and several candidate indicators in a party row;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional View taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Figure 1 and shows connection of the party lever with the party bar and candidate indicators;

Fig. 3 is a View similar to Figure 2 and shows the party lever manipulated when the party bar is locked against movement;

Fig. 4 is a rear View of the party lever showing the interior structure thereof; and

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially on the line 5-5 of Figure 4 and shows the pivotal support for the lever.

Referring to the drawing, the reference numeral ID is employed to generally indicate a portion of the face of a voting machine, embodying one form of this invention. Secured to the face of the machine is a guide II in which is located a candidate strip I2. Directly above each candidates named is located a candidate indicator I3 which is mounted in any suitable manner on the machine. A shaft I4, forming a part of the indicator I3, is fitted with an arm I5. The arm I5 supports one end oi an interlocking strap I6, and is also provided with a lug I'I which may engage a slidable bar I9. This bar is known as the party bar and has connection with a lug I1 on each indicator in a party row and, under certain conditions, is adapted to be moved to actuate all candidate indicators in the party row. The bar is mounted for lateral movement on the rear face of the machine in any suitable manner not shown, as for example, by the provision of pins on the machine projecting through slots in the bar. Inasmuch as the type of indicator and the specic means of connecting the indicator arm with the party bar forms no part of the invention, further description thereof is believed unnecessary.

Secured in any suitable manner to the face of the machine, adjacent the row of indicators I3,

is a bracket 20. 'I'his bracket is generally U- shaped and formed with an opening 2| in the base wall 22 thereof, the opening coinciding with an opening 23 in the front wall of the machine. A partly lever 25 is mounted for pivotal movement on the bracket 2U. This lever is generally channel shaped and terminates at its free end 26 in a reinforced portion to which a knob 21l is suitably secured. The front face 28 or base Wall of the channel shaped lever, is made with a slot 30 through which a card bearing the party name may be visible. This card is held in place in any suitable manner, as by a spring plate 3|, which conforms to the contour of the wall 28 and is secured at one end by a rivet 32. Substantially midway of the ends of the lever is a pin 33, which terminates in the top and bottom Walls thereof. It will be noted that the top and bottom walls of the lever increase in width from the knob 21 to the other end to provide a compartment 34 for a plate 35. A bushing 36 is located in the compartment 34, being secured to the upper and lower walls thereof. A shaft 31 secured to the side Walls of the bracket 25 projects through the bushing 36 and mounts the lever 25 for pivotal movement ina horizontal plane. On the bushing 3S is a spacer 39. Encircling the spacer is a coiled spring 40 having a terminal 4I engaged with pin 33 and a further terminal 43 projecting into an opening provided therefore in the plate 35. It is to be noted that the spring 40 encircles the spacer 39'in a clockwise manner. The plate 35 is made with an opening 44 through which bushing 36; projects to support said plate for pivotal movement with respect to the lever 25. Referring to Figure 5, it will b-e noted that spacer 39 and plate 35 occupy the space between the top and bottom walls of the channel shaped lever 25. An arm 46 projects from an edge of the plate 35 and is caused by tension of spring 40 to contact pin 33 on the side opposite from terminal 4I of said spring. The plate 35 is provided with a finger 41 which projects through opening 2l of bracket 2U and opening 23 of the front wall of the machine. The party bar I9, is formed with an opening 48 in which to receive the finger 41 of lplate 35.

For a full understanding of the operation of the invention it is assumed that a voter desires to cast a straight party ballot, and that said voter has not manipulated any other party lever or any indicators. The voter grasps knob 21 and swings the lever outwardly from the face of the machine to the position shown in Figure 3, wherein the Walls of the lever contact the face of the machine and act as a stop to further pivotal movement. The only connection between the party lever 25 and plate S5 is through spring 40, and since the tension of this spring is greater than any friction of party bar I 9 and the candidate indicators connected therewith, said spring will cause plate 35 to pivot with lever 25. Consequently, th-e finger 41 will move party bar I9, and said bar will in turn move candidate indicators I 3 into voted position. The spring 40 normally urges arm 46 into contact with pin 34 and, thus when lever 25 is returned to non-voting position, plate 35 will rotate about pin 31 as one with the party lever.

It is now to be assumed that a voter has erroneously manipulated one or more indicators in vanother party row or another party lever, and

then desires to vote a straight party ticket by manipulating the party lever 25. As heretofore explained, all voting machines are provided with locking devices which prevent improper voting, and inasmuch as the voter in question has already cast a ballot in another party, he is not entitled to vote another straight party ticket, since some of the candidates would thereby receive two votes. However, not knowing that this cannot be done, he manipulates the party lever 25. In thisinstance, the party bar I9 locks plate 35 against rotation through engagement with nger 41'.` The party lever, however, being engaged with plate 35 only through spring 40, may be moved to the position shown in Figure 3 and spring 40 will take up this movement, this figure showing theposition of the party lever under these conditions. It will be understood that suiiicient force could be applied to move the party bar I9 and actuate indicators I3 even though they were locked, but that this would result in damage to the locking mechanism as well as other parts .of the machine. 'I'he tension of spring 4B, therefore, is only suflicient to cause plate 35 to rotate as one with lever 25 to overcome the ordinary friction involved in moving party bar I9 and indicators I3, but the tension of said spring is insuicient to move said bar and indicators when they are-locked against movement.

Although applicant has shown and described only one modification of the invention, it will be apparent tothose skilled in the art that other modifications or adaptations of a lever for a voting machine may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the hereunto annexed claims.

Having thus set forth my invention what I claim as new and for which I desire protection by Letters Patent ist- 1. In a voting vmachine having a horizontally arranged row of candidate indicators, a lever mountedv for pivotal' movement on said machine adjacent said row' of indicators, a bar connected with and adapted to actuate said indicators, pivotal means engaged with and-adapted to actuate said bar, said pivotal means having yieldable connection with said lever andserving to prevent transmission of movement of said leverrto said bar under predetermined conditions.

2; In a voting machine having a horizontally arranged rowof candidate indicators, a lever mounted for pivotal movement on machine,

a bar connected with and adapted to actuatesaid` indicators, and means yieldingly connectingl said lever with said bar,said means being adapted to absorb movement of said lever and prevent forced movement of said bar and said indicators when said indicators are locked.

3. In a voting machine having a horizontally arranged row of candidateindicators,a lever, a bracket on the face of said machine mounting said lever for pivotal movement, a bar connected with and adapted to actuate said indicators, means in said lever connected with said bar, said means having spring connection with said `lever whereby movement of said lever may beabsorbed to prevent forced movement of said bar and vsaid indicators when saidfindicators are locked. 

